Tag: Zombie Prom

The original title I had for this post was called “One More To Go…” I had begun writing the night after our penultimate performance of Zombie Prom. It had a multitude of meanings that were well suited for it at the time. Unfortunately, it got very late and I couldn’t stay awake anymore, so I planned to pick up again in the morning and posting it before the show. As it turns out, I woke up 10 minutes before our call time (the time the actors have to be at the theatre to get ready and what not) and the post went into the draft pile.

Photo courtesy of Samantha Stidham.

I said “See ya soon!” to the Sunnyvale Theatre after 5 months, and I looked forward to the shift of taking on Christmas Mouse. There is no dancing. There is the tiniest bit of singing. I thought a nice calm small role would be the perfect way to finish out this last month of the year. Now, with only one more performance left, I find myself already saddened by the thought that I can’t audition for a few months and there are all these great shows happening the same time I am working on JCS.

*sigh*

I know it sounds completely selfish, but I finally feel like I have some traction under me; and if I stop for any longer than a few weeks, I will have lost all the momentum I have built. I am sure that this new adventure is going to be as incredible as I hope it will. I have an insanely talented cast, truly. The trouble is they have an insane director.

I will begin creating the dances on Monday and reread and organize all the notes I have made for the last 8 months into something more useful. So much to do still, and rehearsals begin in 3 weeks.

Sometimes I don’t know whether to dance with excitement or pull my hair from panic. I suppose I could always make it a modern piece and dance freneticaly and pause during quiet moments to alternately cackle or tear at my hair. Hmmmm… now to just figure out the right choice of song…

So, it is with this mindset that I will end my 2013. I will be sure to laugh and play in between the crazy times to keep my sense of fun, but deep down I shall always be thinking about what I can or need to do next. That makes this the hardest part. To not be completely immersed in the moments of my life while it is happening always makes me just the slightest bit sad. Even so, this is my passion. I enjoy the challenge and I do not regret wanting to do the best that I possibly can for it and for those I am lucky enough to work with.

This summer’s experience in “Pippin” was phenomenal. I find myself constantly looking back at it to glean as much out of it as I possibly can. I so utterly enjoyed working closely with director, Allie Bailey, on character and movement choices. I plan to use this type of method when it comes to JCS (which auditions in two and a half weeks!!!) I loved talking through little moments in the show to see if there was something we could try to make the moment stick more, for example, switching the gun in Pippin’s (Sven) hand from holding the barrel back to the butt at a critical moment in the finale was Sven’s brilliant idea. It was a spectacularly collaborative effort that just made the experience burrow itself deep, deep into my heart with such tender loving fondness.

Photo courtesy of SunnyvalePlayers.org’s Facebook page

But there was no time to truly mourn the end of this show because there was more theatre to be had!

This came in the way of the, completely unknown to me, campy little piece called “Zombie Prom.” The moral of the story, don’t judge a book by its cover. The music in this show is so freakin’ crazy hard and WORDY!! Lawrd, it this show wordy! There are still lyrics that I can’t quite say. One would be “What’s your answer? Please speak clearly…”

Now that we have come to my favorite holiday of the year, Halloween, it’s only fitting that we have our first audience for the “Prom.” We have our final dress rehearsal tonight! It is so crazy to think just under a month ago, I was finishing up one show and already this one is standing up ready to begin walking. I know it sounds like I am equating it to children, and in a small, very small, way it is. The shape of the show and all the elements are there, so it is upright. To begin performing it, we need an audience, so it would be like taking first steps. Then, come Opening Night, the show will be running. Just like a child. It may even run away from us due to a fire alarm or something. With all of the funny and all of the cuteness, the story and music are just freakin’ FUN! I am constantly getting pieces of songs stuck in my head and it drives me bonkers! My favorite is “There’s nothing like a true blue eh-smoke!” and Kerie does such an amazing job at it! The cast is so fun and Nate Moss gives such a great performance as Eddie Flagrante. Jennifer Medeiros plays my favorite character, the cold Miss Strict. I have to add that character to my bucket list! hahaha. If RuPaul can play her…

Again, this show is so much fun. We open officially tomorrow, so I gotta go and practice that lyric!

Get out and see some theatre, will ya? If you can’t do it because you already have plans, how about making a donation to this fundrazr campaign.

Recently a friend of mine asked the question, what would you name your theatre company?

Ever since then, I have been trying to figure out what mine would be if I had one. I don’t know if it’s conceited to come up with the name on my own. I do know that I wouldn’t use my name in it. I also know that I would love to have something that spells out a word with just the initials.

I found sites that can help create visual logos, but you kinda can’t make a logo if you don’t have a name.

But I am jumping way ahead of myself. That’s not for a few years out.

———–

Tonight, we began setting lighting cues for Zombie Prom. The process is slow going. The only thing I have a hard time with the process is that chatting and giggling are frowned upon. Those are the two things that are done when you are just standing around on stage with people you enjoy. I think I was told to “shhhhhh” about 50 times. It was like elementary school all over again. The only difference is that I didn’t have my name on the board with 5 or 6 check marks by it.